HOME BUILDERS ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL ARIZONA ENDORSES
JEFF DEWIT FOR STATE TREASURER

I’m honored to have the endorsement of the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona (HBACA) which has been representing residential building professionals, suppliers, contractors, and affiliated industry professionals throughout the Valley for over 60 years. Today the HBACA represents more than 500 companies with thousands of employees, and serves as the “Voice of the Residential Construction Industry.”

“As I say frequently, Arizona needs leaders who will promote a thriving business community, as I will. The path to success for our State involves growing our economy and bringing in jobs, and I will be very supportive of our future Governor in making that happen,” said DeWit.

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About Jeff DeWit: Jeff is a successful CEO/Investment Professional with over 21 years of experience. For more information about Jeff DeWit and his campaign for State Treasurer, please visit www.JeffDeWit.com. You can also follow campaign updates on Facebook at www.facebook.com/JeffDeWitAZ or on Twitter at @JeffDeWitAZ.

Wow! I’m giddy. I was surprised and thrilled by Gov. Romney’s performance in last night’s debate (Oct. 3). I watched the debate with 7 other Conservatives, time-delayed by a Tivo box so that we could halt the action and toss in our own comments.

Several of us were apprehensive at the outset, but by the end of the debate we had worked ourselves into a frenzy of excitement, shouting “Yes! Yes! Yes!” as he pounded home those key points that free-market, limited-government, fiscal-responsibility Conservatives have been trumpeting for years.

Now I have to confess. I had no idea that Gov. Romney had this in him. Sure, he’d had some brief flashes on the campaign trail, and his style turned for the better after naming Paul Ryan as his VP. But like many Conservatives, I feared the Governor was just the next-in-line Establishment Republican candidate — doomed to be another gracious loser.

I’m still absorbing what I saw & heard, and I’ll have to go through the whole debate again, but I do remember Romney’s first home run of the evening (for me) when he pointed out the immorality of the debt we are piling on the backs of our children. As I’ve written in the past (here, here, and here for example), we are effectively selling them into a modern-day version of debt bondage. At last we have a candidate who leads with that point against all those “compassionate” Democrats, the people who supposedly “care”.

As for Obama’s own performance, a repeated interjection among my friends was “He’s flailing, he’s flailing!”. Time and again he reached back for his standard campaign talking points, sometimes well off-topic, and he was visibly shell-shocked when Romney put them down emphatically, with compelling refutation points, nicely bulleted and driven home like nails in a coffin (puns intended).

If you can watch the debate again, keep an eye on Obama’s upper jaw near his left ear as he stares down at his podium. One of our friends spotted it first. You’ll see a light spot come and go as he visibly clenches and unclenches his teeth. This man is used to adulation and acquiescence, not reasoned confrontation. Bound up in his Leftist ideology and surrounded 24/7 by sycophants and a fawning, collaborative media, he was totally unprepared to defend his indefensible record. He spent much of the evening staring down at that podium as if being scolded by his school master.

Obama will be better prepared at the next debate, and Romney will have to guard against over-confidence. But I’m no longer worried. Obama’s hand is incredibly weak — almost everywhere, he’s holding a pair of deuces against Romney’s full house. And Romney’s better at the game — much better.

Of course, the election ain’t over ’til it’s over, and the Obama machine, the Great American Left, and the Democrat Media Complex won’t go gently into the night. But we have ourselves a candidate in Mitt Romney, and I have a new-found confidence that he and his staff might just run this campaign right across the finish line going away, and leading by several lengths.

It seems the Leftist media are finally sensing defeat in November. And I mean really sensing it. The willful self-deception that they’ve cultivated for so long is crumbling. Their messiah is false. He’s failed. And rather miserably at that. And he may well take the party down with him in just a few weeks.

Why do I think they’re sensing defeat?

One of their media princelings, Chris Matthews, the bloviating, spittle-spewing host of MSNBC’s Hardball, shifted rather abruptly into defensive alibi mode on the August 31 edition of his show, less than 24 hours after Mitt Romney’s RNC acceptance speech. Matthews began slathering blame on “Republican opposition” for Obama’s failure, this time including a freshly announced conspiracy, ostensibly hatched “in secret” back in 2009, to oppose the President’s policies.

Short memo to Chris: The opposition opposes. That’s what they do. Especially when your messiah sets about to do what he’s done. And every minority party seeks to regain the majority. It’s nothing personal, okay?

But more importantly —

What Obama failure are you talking about? So now Obama has failures?Are you now implying he’ll lose the upcoming election? Are you seeking to lay off the blame for that in advance?

Sheesh. This is quite a shift for a mawkishly liberal, self-delusional, sycophantic, Obama camp follower like you, no? Has that 2008 tingle up your leg migrated to a 2012 chill up your spine?

What happened? Did you watch the RNC speeches that your network wouldn’t air? Were you frightened by the depth of the Republican bench? (If so, eat your heart out, pal.) Did you mentally compare Paul Ryan to Joe Biden and suffer a panic attack?

I occasionally enjoy your show for its unintentional humor, but the sea change in your August 31 show was positively delightful. Please do it again on your next show. Please. As the RNC mystery guest said: Go ahead. Make my day.

In the three states with primary elections so far, three different candidates for the Republican nomination have been declared winners. Next up is Florida. Many already are looking toward the next major state primary – Arizona.

Arizona Republic columnist, Bob Robb, said the Arizona Primary Election “is likely to be the most consequential shootout leading up to Super Tuesday.”

Each one of us needs to make sure our families and friends at church registered to vote. The deadline to register to vote in the Primary Election is Monday, January 30. If you are not registered, or you know someone who is not registered, check out ServiceArizona.com today. It only takes five minutes to register online!

Opening Doors & Getting off the Waiting List

This week’s celebration of National School Choice week was especially timely as two school choice victories have occurred in the last week.

Yesterday, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge upheld the constitutionality of the CAP-supported Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA) program. ESAs provide parents of children with special needs the opportunity to redirect state funds for the education and educational services that best meet their children’s needs. Approximately 75 families have received empowerment scholarship this year. On Monday, a House committee will consider expanding this vital program.

Last week, the Arizona Senate voted to expand the Scholarship Tax Credit program. This new credit is intended to address the critical need to provide scholarships for children on waiting lists. The measure awaits House consideration. Keep up-to-date on legislation at our bill tracker.

Opposition Intensifies

Unfortunately, opponents of school choice continue to distort and attack the programs.

Check out CAP Legal Counsel Deborah Sheasby’s rebuttal to the critics of school choice on the Foundations Blog.

Three Reasons for Banning Abortion at 20 Weeks

On Wednesday, CAP brought Americans United for Life Senior Counsel, Clarke Forsythe, to the Senate Health Committee to testify in support of a ban on abortions after 20 weeks. Today, all but three or four out of the 195 nations in the world prohibit abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. And you guessed it – you can count the United States as one of the few countries that allow abortion at such a late stage.

Soon Arizona legislators will be considering banning abortions at such a late stage of a pregnancy for three reasons: Abortions at any time present a serious risk to the health and safety of the mother, but especially at 20 weeks and beyond.

It has become more evident that preborn children can begin to feel pain at this point even in the womb.

A ban on abortions at 20 weeks would help prevent post-delivery abortions – this is the practice of the doctor delivering the child and then performing the abortion. You may recall hearing about Dr. Kermit Gosnell performing these abortions. He was recently arrested and charged with murder.

So Much Coming Up

The CAP Calendar is full of events coming up! The next big event is this Sunday at Catalina Foothills Church in Tucson. I’ll be speaking with Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin and Kenyn Cureton of Family Research Council at the Recapturing Our American Heritage event.

Obama for America national field director Jeremy Bird told ABC Newsthat the site’s goal is to offer “resources to fight back” against attacks. Mostly, that means fact checking statements from the likes of GOP presidential contenders Mitt Romney and Rick Perry and conservative commentator Glenn Beck and offering evidence to the contrary. The site is designed in bold red and black colors, and uses statements like “support the truth” and “fight the smears.”

Sadly, President Obama’s team has laid another goose egg. Almost every tweet about the site has ridiculed it. Conservative bloggers and pundits have had a field day poking fun at Obama.

Yet go onto the new (“Paid for by Obama for America”) AttackWatch.com website. It reads and looks like some sort of Stasi file (“file” is their vocabulary, not mine). It asks readers to inform them of criticism of Obama. The format is, I guess by intent, supposed to resemble a government intelligence dossier (“Attack files”), with its blaring black and red headers: “Attack” /”Attackers” (followed by names and pictures of the supposed bad guys)/”Attack Type” /(“public statements”) followed by check off boxes like “Have your seen or heard this attack?” “Yes/No”. It reminds me of of living in 1973 dictatorial Greece, when we all kept silent about the Colonels upon entering the apartment building, lest the government-paid concierge write something down not nice in her black book.

Apparently no one in the administration learned from the spooky tone of the now defunct Journolist. That obtuseness begs the question, what is it with these extra-journalistic efforts to intimidate critics, as if the 2012 campaign will be based around deterrence: e.g., as if: “Beware: if you criticize Barack Obama, your name and picture will appear on our “Attack File”. We are watching you, so you watch out!”

So creepier still is the request to snoop around and collect evidence for what the Roman emperors and French monarchs used to call maiestas/Lèse-majesté—supposed crimes against the head of state, by circulating criticism of his authority that might lessen his proper sense of majesty. Indeed, on AttackWatch.com there is a special pop-up window that is reminiscent of Crimestoppers.com that supposedly will help form some sort of a clearing house: “Your email”/”content of attack or link”/”Attack type”, “Attach” with a link “Report” that pops up yet another window.

While the initiative is reminiscent of a similar online effort launched during the 2008 campaign, called Fight the Smears, the intimidating design and language of the new site seems to be what’s causing a bigger ruckus.

Fight the Smears looked and felt far less scary, quoting Obama at the top of its page in a classic hope-change statement: “What you won’t hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon — that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge but enemies to demonize.”

Attack Watch, on the other hand, uses the shorter tag­line, “Get the Truth. Fight the Smears.”

It’s safe to say that in its 24 hours of existence, Attack Watch has already backfired, becoming a tool for conservatives to use against Obama 2012. A tweet by conservative author Brad Thor summed up the critics’s argument: “Wow, not only are Obama & Co. incredibly thin-skinned, they’re paranoid.”

President Obama is in emergency mode. Nevada and New York’s special elections were a GOP sweep. Particularly in New York’s 9th District, where a Republican has not held the seat since 1922 and where Democrats have previously won by 20 points. Even in Nevada, the Republican outperformed expectations and did surprisingly well. Even Nate Silver says, the 2010 Republican wave has not ended.

“In other words, the four special elections, taken as a whole, suggest that Democrats may still be locked in a 2010-type political environment. Democrats might not lose many more seats in the House if that were the case, since most of their vulnerable targets have already been picked off, but it would limit their potential for any gains. And it could produce dire results for the Democrats in the U.S. Senate, where they have twice as many seats up for re-election.”

The best exit quote of the night from NY-09’s Republican victory.

“I am a registered Democrat, I have always been a registered Democrat, I come from a family of Democrats — and I hate to say this, I voted Republican,” said Linda Goldberg, 61, after casting her ballot in Queens. “I need to send a message to the president that he’s not doing a very good job. Our economy is horrible. People are scared.”

AZVOTERGUIDE.COM IS YOUR GUIDE TO THE PHOENIX CITY ELECTIONWEBSITE GIVES STRAIGHT FORWARD ANSWERS ON WHERE THE CANDIDATES STAND

PHOENIX – Discovering where candidates for city offices stand on the issues is easier now thanks to the free online resource, azvoterguide.com. This nonpartisan service compiles survey results from city election candidates in Phoenix, Tucson and Prescott to give voters the clear information they need to be an informed voter.

Candidates indicate on their survey whether they support or oppose 15 statements on critical issues that face our city. Examples of these statements include:

Using city funds to support any organization that performs, promotes, or provides referrals for abortion.

On azvoterguide.com, you can access copies of the actual surveys candidates filed out, and read the comments they wrote. You can download a pdf of the Voter Guide which compares the candidate’s responses here: http://bit.ly/pWhqQb

If a candidate decided not to respond, their phone number and email address is provided, and you are able to send the candidates a blank version of the survey for them to complete and return to Center for Arizona Policy: http://bit.ly/nyMi1B

You can also contact the candidates via Facebook and Twitter. Their usernames have been compiled here: http://bit.ly/n6SlrY

With as few as 10% of the voting population expected to turn out to vote on August 30, it is essential that voters get the facts about the candidates, then turn out to vote their values on Election Day.

Late last Friday, New York’s state legislature decided to radically redefine marriage. In a less than transparent process, New York became the sixth state in the nation to call marriage something other than the union of one man and one woman – and only the third to do so by legislative action. There are thirty states, including Arizona, with constitutional amendments protecting marriage.

We are publishing a series of posts on the Foundations blog this week and next about why it’s so important to stand for the true definition of marriage. We’ll look at what the Scripture says about marriage, whether this is really a “civil rights” issue, and the impact on our religious freedom. Check out the first post of the series by CAP’s Communications Director Aaron Baer: “Why Protect Marriage.”

Celebrating Our Independence

While you celebrate our nation’s independence this 4th of July with family and friends, I hope you take time to reflect on the blessing of living in this great country, and the responsibility that comes with it.

That responsibility starts with exercising our freedom and right to vote our values. City elections throughout Arizona are less than two months away on August 30. Be sure you and your friends are registered to vote, and consider talking with your pastor about holding a voter registration drive at your church in the coming weeks. CAP has everything you need to get started registering voters. We’ll also be publishing a city election Voter Guide at azvoterguide.com in the coming days.

City elections can have a profound impact on the entire state. Our opponents specifically target these elections because it’s much easier for them to influence the outcome and then advance their agenda. We cannot afford to be silent in these local elections. If you haven’t already done so, check out this blog post by CAP’s Blackstone intern Angelina Nguyen about how one city’s bad policies can have an impact on everyone in the state.

Summer Break

5 Minutes for Families will be going on a short summer break through the month of July. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and watch the Foundations blog for updates from us during this time. I’ll be back with more updates and news you need to know that impacts your family in August. Happy Independence Day!

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Arizona's most popular and prominent political blog covering political news and events, commentary and information with a blatantly conservative worldview. We are an alliance of writers, activists, consultants and government insiders.